First , Is there such a thing ? Second , if not , why ? After spending a large amount of time and money on a killer paint job etc. one of my/our concerns is the inevitable scraping of the front lower valance. I'm not talking about Bra`s or any full covers. I'm talking about a 1/8in. or 1/4in. scrape resistant, full length flat plate ( Third Gen. specific )to go on the bottom of a front lower valance. With a slight curved lip to protect even further up the front. Is there such a animal out there? If not, any suggestions?
Thanks ,
Ron

 

no i don't think they make skid plates for the third gen, but extra clear is pretty much all you can do if you don't want a bra (and they don't always help either)

 

Talk to Lon at TDS from this site. At one point he was looking into fabricating something like you described.

If there was enough interest, he might consider producing them for sale on his site.

 

I think it would be way cooler, and much less visually detracting to have some sort of sensor under the bumper, with maybe a light on the dash that came one when you were close to a curb. It seems like alot of the lower bumper damage is simply from mis-judging a curb height, pulling up to it, and dragging the bumper across it.

 

Getting a clear sheet of 1/4" plexiglas or lexan, cut it to fit the outline, then use heat to shape the front lip upwards. Just a suggestion of an "invisible" barrier protector.

That would be SIMPLE to have vacuum formed too. Hmmmm.....

 

Stephen, I think you have a project to do for us now.

 

I was afraid of that!

I'm in the process of moving. I'm packing, and moving this weekend, from a 1/1 apartment, into my 3/2/3/4 acre fenced yard HOUSE! No more throwing my money into rent. Now I OWN!

But yeah, gimme a couple weeks to get moved, and kinda unpacked, and I'll go talk to the vacuum forming place about building the form cost, minimum unit cost, etc. The do LOTS of 1 offs, so it wouldn't be unusual for them. So there shouldn't even be a minimum.

 

I like the sensor idea, but what happens when your driving, and there is an object in the road you can't avoid, due to traffic around you? Or a DIP in the road? Gonna slow down to 5mph on a 40mph road? If nobody is behind you, that's fine. But what id Bubba behind you, is too busy reading his Guns & Ammo magazine, and isn't paying attention? Or Betty Boop slathering on the make up (which still didn't help any! )in the mirror? Sure....It's still their fault, but a pain to still hafta get it all fixed & repainted.

 

I damage my front valance from driveways that are built for 4x4 trucks instead of cars. I havent hit a curb since the time I started driving 10+ years ago.

Lon from Top Down Solutions was making these protectors a few years ago, but I dont see them on his website now.

 

I don't understand why or how everybody can scrape the front lip of their car. I have scraped maybe twice in the two years that I've owned my Camaro and that was probably within the first week of owning it.

 

Is the car stock height or lowered? Stock, I rarely did, But lowered, mine was more prone to hit, if I had to hit a ramped driveway straight on.

Besides that....What was your point in posting anyways? It did nothing to address protecting a car.

 

I forgot I responded to this thread so I just saw your post, congrats on the house Stephen!! Homeownership(though tough sometimes) is awesome, always better then renting.



OOOoops I forgot, Stephen likes to be quoted if you're talking to him so here you go!

 

I'd definitely be interested in one of these. I'd only tapped it a few times over speed bumps (yes. Stock height. Speed bumps. We have some vicious mountains of speed bumps over here. You know they're bad when the top of them has 2" deep gashes from cars bottoming out.) but now I try to go at an angle every time I know they're coming. Sometimes going to a new restaurant though and you find out that the turn in is a lot steeper than you reckoned too.

Biggest hit was when I was going down a road after it was reopened after it flooded. They never cleared out the sand. I hit a 7" tall sand bank at 45 mph. It made me sick. Amazingly everything was still attached.